Type 1c: High-backed

Type 1c comprises ornate, composite combs with a 'high-backed' profile, such as those recorded by Curle (1982, 22-4) and Dunlevy (1988, 356-8, 'class C'). MacGregor (1985, 87-8) suggests a 5th- to 8th-century date; these combs may well have developed out of Type 1b, though the context in which this may have happened is uncertain (see Ashby 2009). The geographical range of this form is restricted to the northern and western parts of the British Isles, but in these contexts Type 1c constitutes an important component of the material corpus.